5.3 Ownership status
This study categorises companies into two types of ownership status based on the percentage
of corporate common stock held by either government or private companies. For example,
firms where government organizations hold own than 51 percent of the common stock are
designated as government companies. On the other hand, if private organizations or
individuals hold more than 51 percent of the common stock, then they are classified as
private companies. Ownership status is not often considered in research into social and
environmental reporting, probably because such research is mostly conducted in an
Anglo-American context where government companies are not common (Tagesson, Blank,
Broberg, & Collin, 2009). In relation to TBL information, government and private companies
may differ in both the quantity and quality of their disclosure. In Canada, Cormier and
Gordon (2001) found that government companies provide more social and environmental
information than private companies. In Sweden, Tagesson et al. (2009) found that
government companies disclosed more social and environmental information than private
companies because state-owned companies are more scrutinized, so that there is pressure
from the state as owner, and from the mass media to comply with society’s expectations.
Contrasting results have been obtained; Balal (2000) found that Bangladeshi private
companies disclose more environmental information than government companies. In Italy,
Secci (2005) found that companies controlled by the Italian government disclosed less social
and environmental information than other corporations and this study investigated whether
there is any statistical relationship between the TBL reporting score in annual reports and the ownership status of the company.